Comments on: Future of Librarians

By: Lori Reed

Lori Reed — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:06:36 +0000

It’s interesting that this is coming up now given my recent request for ALA to allow non-MLS members to apply for Emerging Leaders.

I think that there will always be value in an MLS. But I think there is value in opening opportunities and embracing librarians with other degrees as equals in the profession. Like Jacque said an MPA is extremely useful in a library setting…as is an MEd and a lot of other degrees.

Experience should count just as much as education as a qualification too.

As I am looking at applying to grad school I have only had one person so far who has an MLS encourage me to pursue an MLS. Pretty much everyone I have spoken with who has an MLS has advised me to go for something other than an MLS. To me that speaks volumes, and I agree it’s sad.

I hope that colleges and universities revise their curriculum and offer more relevant courses and tracks for the MLS degree.

By: Jacque

Jacque — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:22:24 +0000

I found having a master’s in Public Administration (MPA) to be particularly useful to me, especially since I mostly held admin positions after my first few years in libraries. For those working in the public sector it is a good adjunct to the MLS. Don’t know when, or if, we will ever be able to definitively say whether the MLS is always necessary or good. It does give us something of an even starting point, at least. Education of any sort is what we make of it and I am glad for both my formal and informal learning.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:33:30 +0000

Hi Nicole-

I think this is an issue we’re all dealing with now in the profession. I just wanted to make two quick comments (and they might seem contradictory):

1) Don’t get down on your investment in your MLS. Any degree is more than just a degree – it is an experience and a skill set that you walk away with, not a piece of paper. I have an English lit and secondary ed. background that, most likely, I will never employ in a traditional teaching setting. However, even though I know I won’t use it “properly” as I am starting my last year of my MLIS program, I would in an instant go back and do the same program again knowing how much I learned and the amount of knowledge and skills that are transferable into nearly any job that I would pursue.

2) Here’s the contradictory part: There’s too much emphasis on having an MLS/MLIS. Speaking in generalities – If we can prove that we are competent caretakers of information resources and can teach what we know in a library setting, what importance is there in the MLIS? I agree with your point that traditional public and academic librarians need some kind of official training, typically MLIS training. However, others (read: tech specialists with information architecture backgrounds or archivists with heavy preservation backgrounds – for example) may not need full MLS degrees – more like certificates. Are these specialists still librarians? You betcha. But in today’s library culture they wouldn’t be considered so. I think that is the main issue – we do have people who can do librarian- related work but we don’t consider them as such because they don’t have the degree.

As the saying goes – that’s my two cents worth,
~Kyle~